A day of Rapid Testing not enough

By Leonardo Micua

 

A letter of Dagupan City Administrator Vlad Mata dated June 3, 2020 was posted on social media, inviting several sections and organizations in the city to send some members or staff directly catering daily to the public face-to-face, to undergo a free Rapid Anti-body Testing at the Dagupan People’s Astrodome last June 5.

The letter called on 10 sectors/organizations of the city’s population to send a list of their front line employees/members to be included in the manifest to undergo the test. (We don’t know how many complied considering the short notice given them).

This obviously came on the heels of a Risk-based RT-PCR test earlier conducted by city hall with the help of the Philippine Red Cross that identified 14 out of 720 front liners and officials, who tested positive for COVID-19.

Although doctors said Rapid Testing is only 30 percent accurate as already shown in many instances when those found positive in tests using the Rapid Test Kits later turned negative in RT-PCR tests, they consider this as better than nothing at all.

Recall that LGUs in Binmaley, Mapandan, Mangaldan, Sta. Barbara, Balungao and lately, Calasiao earlier reported their constituents who tested positive in rapid tests only to find them negative in confirmatory tests using the RT-PCR based on the persons’ swab specimens.

Clearly, the RT-PCR test is more accurate than the Rapid Test Kits, which the Dagupan City government bought in large quantities. But never mind this for now.

What we wonder about is – was the one day of Rapid Testing enough to contain the spread of the virus?  As even Mayor Brian himself admitted, those found positive in rapid testing will still need to take the swab-based RT-PCR test for confirmation.

Hence, city hall should do more than schedule a day for rapid testing if it is keen on finding who among our ordinary citizens roaming around are asymptomatic.

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Because of this rapid testing activity last June 5 (Friday), officials and employees of national government agencies based at the Astrodome had to work from home like what the Bureau of Immigration did – it suspended work in its office when City Hall conducted an RT-PCR test on the city’s more than 700 front liners.

The officials and employees of these agencies are still wondering why Mayor Brian Lim converted the Astrodome as a testing center for possible COVID-19 cases when he knows pretty well that there are offices there catering to a big number of clients.

At the Astrodome are the Bureau of Immigration which is catering to foreigners daily, the Philippine Information Agency, and the provincial office of the Commission on Elections.

Recall that the Astrodome was earlier designated to host slightly affected Persons Under Investigation (PUIs), where modular tents supposedly donated by a Chinese businessman were first assembled and blessed by Archbishop Soc Villegas. 

Apparently, Brian changed his mind as the modular tents are no longer there. Instead he chose to convert the place as a COVID-19 testing center. Is he actually telling these government agencies to get out?

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We hope and pray that our kababayan, particularly our friends and relatives in the USA, are safe not only from the coronavirus but from street riots that rocked some cities across that nation triggered by the death of George Floyd who died in the hands of a police officer as seen on cable TV.

Filipinos are right in distancing themselves from that tumult, and keep themselves safe from COVID-19 infection.

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